Wednesday, September 10, 2025
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Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

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https://nordictimes.com/world/icc-issues-arrest-warrant-for-netanyahu/

World

ICC issues arrest warrant for Netanyahu

The situation in Gaza

Published 22 November 2024
– By Editorial Staff
The International Criminal Court (ICC) today issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (left).
2 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Both are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Israel rejects the ICC’s jurisdiction, claiming that the ICC engages in “anti-Semitism”.

The ICC accuses Netanyahu and Gallant of deliberately depriving the civilian population of Gaza of access to basic necessities such as food, water, medicine and electricity between October 2023 and May 2024, Reuters reports.

The court further alleges that they used starvation as a method of warfare, which according to the ICC has caused a large number of civilian deaths and suffering to the civilian population of Gaza.

– There are reasonable grounds both individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity, the ICC explained in a statement.

The court also considers that Netanyahu and Gallant can be held responsible as civilian leaders for attacks against the civilian population of Gaza. However, the arrest warrants are classified to protect witnesses and investigations.

Arrest warrants against senior Hamas leaders

On the same day, the ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, a senior Hamas commander, for alleged war crimes.

Al-Masri is accused of murder, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, and hostage-taking. According to unconfirmed reports, he was killed in action in July 2024.

Benjamin Netanyahu reacted to the arrest warrants issued by the Supreme Court in The Hague: – An anti-Semitic decision reminiscent of the Dreyfus trial. We will not succumb to pressure.

Recently deposed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has previously described the ICC’s work as an attempt to equate Hamas and Israel.

– It is a despicable attempt to draw parallels between Hamas and Israel, which is exercising its right for self-defense, Gallant said in a statement in May 2024.

Under the ICC, member states of the Rome Statute are obliged to cooperate in arrests if the suspects travel to their territory. However, several major nations, such as the US, Russia and China, do not recognize the court, making it difficult to execute arrest warrants.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

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https://nordictimes.com/world/israeli-supreme-court-rules-it-is-illegal-to-starve-palestinian-prisoners/

World

Israeli Supreme Court rules it is illegal to starve Palestinian prisoners

The genocide in Gaza

Published yesterday 10:20
– By Editorial Staff
Benjamin Netanyahu with Israeli troops. Under his leadership, at least 61 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since the war began.
2 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

In a highly unusual decision, Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled that the government has violated the law by starving Palestinian prisoners.

The court now orders authorities to immediately improve food supply in prisons – a decision that Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir vehemently opposes.

It is extremely rare for Israel’s Supreme Court to take a stand against the government’s violations against Palestinians, but on Sunday came a unanimous decision. The Israeli government has deprived Palestinian prisoners of even the most basic food supply and thereby violates the law, the court ruled.

The court establishes that authorities have a legal obligation to provide Palestinian prisoners with three meals a day to ensure “a basic level of existence”.

“We are not speaking here of comfortable living or luxury, but of the basic conditions of survival as required by law. Let us not share in the ways of our worst enemies”, the judges write in their decision.

61 dead in custody

Since the war against Gaza began in October 2023, at least 61 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody. In March, a 17-year-old Palestinian boy died in prison from what doctors assessed was likely starvation.

Thousands of Palestinians have been imprisoned without charges for alleged connections to militant groups. Those who have been released have testified about brutal conditions with overcrowding, minimal food rations, inadequate healthcare, and scabies outbreaks.

Two Israeli human rights organizations, ACRI and Gisha, describe in their complaint to the court that the government is conducting a “systematic policy” to starve Palestinian prisoners.

Ben-Gvir rages against the ruling

The leader of the Jewish Power party and Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is responsible for the prison system, reacted with fury to the court ruling.

The far-right minister, who has consistently advocated ethnic cleansing and expulsion of the entire Palestinian population, questioned the judges’ loyalty to Israel.

“Are you from Israel?” he asked the judges and accused the Supreme Court of defending Hamas “to our disgrace” while Israeli hostages in Gaza receive no help.

“Turned prisons into torture camps”

Ben-Gvir has previously boasted about worsening conditions for Palestinian security prisoners to the absolute minimum. He promised on Sunday that the policy of “the most minimal conditions stipulated by law” would continue unchanged, despite the court’s decision.

Human rights organization ACRI demands that authorities immediately implement the ruling. In a statement, the organization says that those responsible for Israel’s prison system have “turned Israeli prisons into torture camps”.

“A state must not starve people. People must not starve people — no matter what they have done”, the organization states.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/world/belgium-recognizes-palestinian-state-imposes-sanctions-against-israel/

World

Belgium recognizes Palestinian state – imposes sanctions against Israel

The genocide in Gaza

Published 2 September 2025
– By Editorial Staff
"Belgium had to take strong decisions to increase pressure on the Israeli government", according to Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot.
3 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot announces that the country will recognize Palestine at the UN General Assembly later in September. At the same time, a series of sanctions are being imposed against the Israeli government, including import bans from illegal settlements and entry bans for two extremist ministers.

Belgium will formally recognize a Palestinian state when the UN General Assembly opens on September 9, according to the country’s Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot.

“Palestine will be recognized by Belgium during the UN session! And firm sanctions are being imposed on the Israeli government”, Prévot writes on platform X.

The foreign minister announces that Belgium will implement twelve sanctions targeting Israel at the national level. The decision comes as a reaction to what he describes as a “humanitarian tragedy in Palestine” and Israel’s actions in violation of international law.

“Belgium had to take strong decisions to increase pressure on the Israeli government”, Prévot explains. “This is not about sanctioning the Israeli people but about ensuring that their government respects international and humanitarian law and taking action to try to change the situation on the ground”.

Comprehensive package of measures

The sanctions package contains several concrete measures:

• Ban on imports of products from Israeli settlements
• Review of public procurement with Israeli companies
• Restrictions on consular assistance to Belgian citizens in illegal settlements
• Possible legal prosecutions
• Ban on overflights and transit
• Entry ban for two extremist Israeli ministers, Hamas leaders and several violent settlers

Although Prévot did not name the ministers, it appears to concern Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who have already been hit by similar measures from other EU countries such as the Netherlands.

Pressure at EU level

Belgium will also work for measures at the EU level, including suspending the union’s association agreement with Israel and terminating research programs and technical cooperation.

The recognition of Palestine takes place within the framework of a joint initiative from France and Saudi Arabia.

“Belgium will recognize Palestine during the joint initiative of France and Saudi Arabia. A strong political and diplomatic gesture to preserve the chances of a two-state solution”, writes Prévot, who also states that Brussels is participating in the initiative to “mark the condemnation of Israel’s expansionist ambitions with its settlement programs and military occupations”.

Hostages must be released first

Prévot emphasizes that the measures are directed against Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and its actions during the 22-month-long offensive against Gaza – not against the Jewish people.

The government simultaneously states that it also intends to take measures against glorification of Hamas and combat what it describes as antisemitism.

The sanctions will take effect through royal decree, but only after the last hostage held by Hamas in Gaza has been released and when the group no longer has any role in the administration of Palestine.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/world/photojournalist-leaves-reuters-in-protest-western-media-enable-israels-journalist-killings/

World

Photojournalist leaves Reuters in protest: “Western media enable Israel’s journalist killings”

The genocide in Gaza

Published 29 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Zink states that significantly more journalists have been killed in Gaza than during both world wars - and argues that Israel is deliberately murdering reporters.
2 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

After eight years, Canadian photojournalist Valerie Zink is resigning from news agency Reuters. She accuses Western media of systematically spreading Israeli government propaganda and of enabling the murders of 245 journalists in Gaza so far.

Valerie Zink published a striking Facebook post on Monday explaining that she can no longer work for Reuters. The decision comes after five journalists, including Reuters’ own cameraman Hossam al-Masri, were killed in an Israeli attack on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

“At this point it’s become impossible for me to maintain a relationship with Reuters given its role in justifying and enabling the systematic assassination of 245 journalists in Gaza”, Zink writes.

She directs very harsh criticism at how Western media has handled reporting from Gaza, particularly the case of Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif who was killed earlier in August.

“Reuters chose to publish Israel’s entirely baseless claim that Al-Sharif was a Hamas operative”, she writes, pointing out that the reporter’s work had previously won a Pulitzer Prize for Reuters itself.

“Reuters’ willingness to perpetuate Israel’s propaganda has not spared their own reporters from Israel’s genocide”, Zink continues in her post.

“Repeats Israel’s genocidal lies”

Zink accuses Western media of “repeating Israel’s genocidal fabrications without determining if they have any credibility” – and thereby abandoning the most basic journalistic principles.

She emphasizes that this submissive attitude from establishment media has “made possible the killing of more journalists in two years on one tiny strip of land than in WWI, WWII, and the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, and Ukraine combined, to say nothing of starving an entire population, shredding its children, and burning people alive”.

The attack on Nasser Hospital is described as an example of a “double tap” attack, where Israel first bombs a civilian target and then strikes again when rescue personnel and journalists have arrived at the scene.

“Western media is directly culpable for creating the conditions in which this can happen. As Jeremy Scahill from Drop Site News put it, ‘every major outlet – from the New York Times to the Washington Post, from AP to Reuters – has served as a conveyor belt for Israeli propaganda, sanitizing war crimes and dehumanizing victims, abandoning their colleagues and their alleged commitment to true and ethical reporting'”, she continues.

“I can’t conceive of wearing this press pass with anything but deep shame and grief”, Zink concludes her post, calling the journalists in Gaza “the bravest and best to ever live”.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/world/swedish-pensions-finance-israeli-white-phosphorus-manufacturer/

World

Swedish pensions finance Israeli white phosphorus manufacturer

The situation in Gaza

Published 22 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
An Israeli M109 Doher fires a shell. The self-propelled artillery system is one of several that can fire ammunition containing white phosphorus.
2 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

Sjunde AP-fonden (Seventh AP Fund) owns shares worth €9 million in Israeli ICL Group, which manufactures white phosphorus. Human rights organizations have long warned about the company’s links to war crimes against civilians – and now the fund’s officials claim they will review the investment.

Swedish public radio Sveriges Radio Ekot reveals that Swedish pension funds are invested in the Israeli company ICL Group, a manufacturer of white phosphorus that has previously received harsh criticism from several human rights organizations.

The investigation shows that the Seventh AP Fund (one of Sweden’s national pension funds) owns shares worth €9 million in the company. During 2025, the pension fund’s holdings have also increased from 1.2 million to 1.6 million shares.

White phosphorus may be used in conflict zones under international law to illuminate targets or create smoke screens. However, the substance is prohibited for use in ammunition near civilians as it causes severe burns.

Israel has been accused by several human rights organizations of using white phosphorus in densely populated areas during attacks in Gaza. According to the radio station, it is not established whether phosphorus from ICL Group specifically was used in these attacks, but the company has previously listed the U.S. Army – which has close cooperation with Israel – as a customer.

“Difficult to verify”

Mikael Lindh Hök, communications director at the Seventh AP Fund, says that they do not plan to immediately sell the holdings, but that the investment will be reviewed.

— If it’s true and you can actually verify that their product, in this case white phosphorus, is used by the Israeli military in the conflicts, then that is grounds for blacklisting, as it constitutes a violation of human rights, he says.

Lindh Hök simultaneously points to the difficulties in obtaining evidence.

— But there we have the problem that it has been very difficult to verify this, as there are contradictory reports. No one has admitted, so to speak, that they have used it. But if we manage to get it verified, then that is grounds for exclusion.

Amnesty: Suspicions are enough

He emphasizes that the fund manages money for six million Swedes and therefore requires clear evidence before acting.

— Then we want to get it verified so that it doesn’t become arbitrary. Sometimes it can be a rumor that a company has violated something, and then it later emerges that it hasn’t violated an international convention. And since we are the default option for six million Swedes, we have set the threshold at: what international conventions has Sweden signed? he explains further.

Astri Sjoner, political advisor at Norwegian Amnesty, believes that the suspicions alone should be enough to act.

— Now several parties have pointed out that they suspect it is this company’s white phosphorus that has been used in Israel’s warfare in Gaza. When there is this type of suspicion, it is important that those who invest in it take on extra responsibility to assess the risk of human rights violations.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

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